Because an integrated circuit, such as a very large scale integration (VLSI) application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), is hardcoded in nature, it can be challenging to satisfy the dynamic feature requirements of system developers. For example, different electronic devices can employ different peripheral devices, each configured to communicate with the processing system according to a particular communication protocol. Typically, a set of peripherals is used to do perform interface bridging and input/output (I/O) expansion to facilitate communication between the ASIC and external devices. These peripherals are additional external components that must be laid on board to complete system design and board integration. However, these solutions have higher costs, greater power consumption, utilize more area on the board (higher printed circuit board cost), and have limited or no access to the main chip's registers.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.